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Sports

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yearb_1994_204.jpg

Transcript

|Run *N Shot
Helton fires coaches after dismal season
Houston head coach Kim Helton
made drastic changes in his
coaching staff, just three days
after Houston finished a 1-9-1
season with a 37-7 loss to Rice.
Recruiting coordinator Bruce
Davis, receivers coach Ron Shanklin,
offensive line coach Ronnie Vinklarek,
and defensive backs coach Melvin
Robertson were fired from their positions on the coaching staff.
Tony Fitzpatrick, defensive
tackles coach, and defensive ends coach
Ben Hurt were reassigned to administrative roles, mainly to help with recruiting.
Helton was tight-lipped as he
sat at the press conference to deliver the
news. "We've all had some difficult things
to do in life," he said. "This rates up
there as one of the most difficult (for
me). I have great remorse for what has
had to happen for us to move on."
"These are great men, and they
handled it like pros."
When Helton was hired after
spring drills, a stipulation of his employment was that he use the staff and
the system already in place. He was
allowed one change, replacing special
teams coach Tommy Kaiser, who moved
on to Texas Tech, with Frank Gansz.
"The fair thing for those coaches
was to allow them to continue coaching
through the end of the season," said
Athletic Director Bill Carr. "Now (Helton) has the prerogative of filling his
staff with his choices."
He added that he did not yet
know how he would realign the coaching staff, but he did say that Fitzpatrick,
Hurt and running backs coach Danny
Palmer would handle the recruiting,
and offensive coordinator Neal Callaway
would not be coaching the quarterbacks
next season.
The Cougars' middle line
backer Ryai McCov bre^j through TCU's
line to attempt a quarterback sack. Despite
breaking the school's tackling record, McCoy did
not make the final cut for the Butkus Award.
Photo by Michael Smith
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286
6J)
"You have to win the Southwest
Conference," Helton said. "It's the standard by which the state of Texas measures coaching and football teams."
Robertson was the most storied
of the coaches. He was the Cougars'
defensive coordinator between 1967-71
under former coach Bill Yeoman after
serving two years coaching the secondary line.
He returned to Houston as linebackers coach in 1991 as a part of John
Jenkins' staff and was promoted to defensive coordinator the next year.
Robertson remained the coordinator under Helton, but he was demoted
to secondary coach after Houston's 42-
21 loss to Michigan. Linebackers coach
Gene Smith replaced him.
Danny Palmer is now the only
active coach left from the earlier regimes. "I feel very fortunate to be a part
of a new beginning," said Palmer, who
coaches the running backs. "Kim created an atmosphere that was relaxed,
business-like and you enjoyed being
around him."-Adam King
kay guys, I can only give one hug at a time. Houston successfully stops another Tulsa
drive. Photo by Michael Smith X^^V... >^
The Texas game was played on a Thursday night. It's somewhat unusual, but if you can
pay to be aired on ESPN why not? Coach Helton is happy with Dedric Mathis successful
stop of a Texas TD drive. Photo by Cesar Alvarez
% 1
Forget about the ball, let's just be friends. Alfred Young TTlree safety Donald Douglas intends to stop Cincinnati from scoring another touch
denies Baylor's Pearce Peters a touchdown. Photo by I? down. Cincinnati added another big "L" to Houston's long season. Photo by Michael
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Smith
Sports
Football
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